1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to camera covers, and more specifically, to universal and disposable sterile replacement camera covers that may be used in sterile environments such as an operating room.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional surgical cameras mounted on surgical light assemblies are well-known and have been in use for a number of years. FIGS. 1A to 1D are illustrations of an exemplary surgical camera mounted on a surgical light assembly, including an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) camera cover. It should be noted that FIGS. 1A to 1D illustrate a very specific surgical camera with a corresponding or matching surgical camera cover that is made specifically for the illustrated surgical camera to exactly match and cover the shown surgical camera. In fact, all existing surgical light assemblies, their associated camera equipment, and their camera cover mounted thereon are unique, specifically manufactured by competing companies and are not interchangeable. Accordingly, the FIGS. 1A to 1D are merely provided for illustrative purposes and for better understanding of the present invention and should not be limiting to the specific surgical light, surgical camera and its correspondingly matching camera cover illustrated.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1D, an exemplary surgical light assembly 100 may include a surgical light camera 102. The surgical light camera 102 typically includes a camera body 104, a lens 106, and a connection section 108 that connects to the surgical light 100. In general, the connection section 108 of the surgical light camera 102 includes a fastening mechanism 110 that allows coupling of a uniquely manufactured, correspondingly matching OEM camera cover 112 onto the surgical light camera 102.
As best illustrated in FIG. 1B, the OEM camera cover 112 is typically comprised of a cover body 114, a lens cover 116, and an upper section 118 that includes a mounting mechanism 120 that detachably couples the OEM camera cover 112 onto a correspondingly matching surgical light camera 102. More specifically, the upper section 118 of the OEM camera cover 112 with its mounting mechanism 120 couples with the connection section 108 of the surgical light camera 102 with its complementary (i.e., corresponding) fastening mechanism 110.
As best illustrated in FIGS. 1C and 1D, in this particular instance, the fastening mechanism 110 of the connection section 108 of the camera 102 is an exemplary biased button that may be biased outward by a spring. On the other hand, the correspondingly matching (i.e., complementary) mounting mechanism 120 of the upper section 118 of the OEM camera cover 112 is an exemplary aperture that receives the fastening mechanism (or biased button) 110 of the OEM camera cover 112, when the OEM camera cover 112 is fully installed. That is, to detachably mount the OEM camera cover 112 onto the surgical light camera 102, the biasing button 110 of the surgical light camera 102 is inserted and locked within the aperture 120.
Regrettably, surgical camera covers, including those illustrated in FIGS. 1A to 1D suffer from obvious disadvantages in that they are not disposable and they are not universal. There are a few disposable accessories that are placed on or drape over an OEM surgical camera cover itself, but these accessories are not rigid and are uniquely and specifically manufactured for a specifically corresponding OEM camera cover, and most are of soft type. Obviously, soft type OEM camera covers do not provide the same level of physical protection for the surgical room camera or the OEM camera cover itself as do the rigid OEM covers and therefore, rigid covers such as the cover 112 are preferred. That is, soft covers must incorporate a viewing area that must always be aligned with the lens of the camera, due to the soft nature of the soft type OEM camera covers, a user may accidentally mishandle and touch the camera or pull the soft cover, which may jeopardize the viewing area of the camera lens or the camera itself.
Nonetheless, as illustrated, rigid OEM operating room camera covers provide a protective, sterilized covering for the more expensive and costly surgical room camera equipment that is mounted onto the surgical light assembly. The rigid OEM camera covers provide a sterile grip section (e.g., the body 114) for maneuvering the camera to different orientations without contacting or grabbing the actual camera equipment. The camera cover is generally dismounted from the camera and the surgical light assembly, and put through a rigorous, time consuming, and costly sterilization procedure after every surgery, enabling the reuse of the actual camera equipment. The camera covers may be considered as a part of the sterile field (or sterile zone) of an operating room.
As stated above, surgical light assemblies, the associated camera equipment, and the camera cover mounted thereon are unique, specifically manufactured by competing companies and are not interchangeable. Accordingly, a hospital having multiple operating rooms may have multiple surgical light assemblies (including the uniquely associated mounted camera and cover) from multiple manufacturing companies, none of which can be interchanged for use. Therefore, for a busy hospital, the constant and continuous use of the operating room is not possible because after every surgery the unique camera cover used must be dismounted and put through the time consuming sterilization procedure, creating a bottleneck effect that impedes the turn-around time for preparation and reuse of the operating room. (Of course, it is assumed that sufficient numbers of sterilization equipments are available to timely handle sterilizing of camera covers and other surgical equipment.)
To overcome the problem associated with the bottleneck effect caused by the sterilizing the uniquely manufacture camera covers, hospitals can order multiple camera covers from different manufacturers. However, this would be impractical in terms of purchasing costs, storage, inventory, and maintenance of the covers. Further, the addition of more camera covers does not obviate or relieve the requirement for their sterilization, but compounds it. Instead of sterilizing a single camera cover, the hospital would have to sterilize multiple camera covers. Other options include the use of disposable accessories, but as mentioned above, these accessories are also uniquely and specifically manufactured for a specific camera cover, are not interchangeable, are very costly, and most are of soft type, which makes it difficult to grip and maneuver the camera during a surgical procedure.
Accordingly, in light of the current state of the relevant art and the drawbacks to current camera covers, a need exists for a sterile replacement camera cover that is disposable, rigid, and universal that may be used with all types of cameras.